Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Syabas, Malaysia won 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup

I must confess that I’m not a local football fan; I don’t know most of 11 except for Rajagopal, the coach, the most familiar face with macho mustache. But when Malaysia were up against Indonesia in the second leg of AFF final, I promptly switched on TV just like any other local football fans; it is very rare appearance of our football team in a final at regional stage. Of course, we don’t talk about Asia, Olympics or World Cup as we’re far of, very far indeed.

When Safee, the talented striker struck in the first goal, I knew the moment that we have waited for so long has finally come close to materialize. We have a 3-goal advantage from the first leg and Indonesia now needed 5 goals to overturn the deficit. I must take my hat off that our young players could play without fear at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium and for that fighting spirit, they’re worthy champions.

From the solid defense and counter attacks, it was not surprising that our players struck the first goal. Indonesian players were subsequently mounting pressure on us by fast attacks and yielded in 2 goals but perhaps they had wasted many opportunities in the first half, the 2-goal was not good enough to stop Malaysia to become the first ever football champion at South East Asia stage.

I have supported Arsenal for years even though they’re without a trophy for the past 5 years, mainly because of the team’s philosophy of developing young talents unlike its rival Chelsea, burning Abramovich’s billions to build a super-stars team. Of course money could do almost everything in this world but certainly not building characters that will keep us remember for a long long time.

Kudos to Rajagopal, for his foresightedness and capability to develop a winning team derived from a bunch of young and talented players. This is something that our sport is so lacking for long and hopefully the AFF Cup will be our turning point towards building a sport nation, cultivating more champions in the international stage.

Friday, December 24, 2010

A lot of people cheating...

While queuing at Marry Brown to take away some fried chicken for dinner last night one Malay gentleman cheekily asked me what happened to Sime Darby nowadays and how could there be so many cheating cases. At first I didn’t realize how could this gentleman know that I’m working for Sime, I paused for a moment then I realized that it was the T-shirt that I wore bearing the red Sime Darby logo.

I told the gentleman that it was nothing to do with us a.i, I’m attached to Plantation Division while the huge losses were incurred in other division. The gentleman seemed a bit dissatisfied with my answer and continued commenting that some top people were too greedy and cheated the company and unfortunately their greed not only tarnishing the image of the company but seriously affecting its financial health.

I was a bit reluctant to say yes or not as I didn’t have a clue of the background of that elderly Malay gentleman but found a bit impolite if I kept mum and say nothing. So, I told him that this sort of things happen very often in GLCs, Sime is not the first one and certainly not going to be the last one. I continued to say that all these CEOs or top people were actually appointed by the government and if these gung-ho elites failed to steer the companies to success, or the other way round, driving the company into the drain, then those who appointed them should also be held responsible.

I then smiled broadly to that chap, taking my 3-piece fried chicken and some salads and fries, walked out from the Marry Brown and drove to Commuter station to fetch my wife.

Somehow when a few fellas are committing some offences, people will take it as though the whole company is involved. I guess that’s how it goes, as most of us always perceive that policemen are all corrupted but in actual fact, it could be a few drops of black ink that polluted a bow of water.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Sifu there and who's here?

In China, the drivers of the tourist buses are respectfully called “sifu” or master. The local tour guides give a lot of respect to their drivers and along the tour getting advices and suggestions from them particularly on itineraries of visit and so on. The tourism authority of China also gives high respect to their tourist bus drivers and as such you can see that those drivers assigned to ferry foreign tourists are well experienced and knowledgeable at times that they could even politely correct some incorrect information provided by the local tour guide.

Perhaps, the word “sifu” carries a lot of weight and along with it a lot more responsibility.

During our tour to Yunnan-Dali-Lijiang a month ago, we travelled on hilly terrain on high altitude from Yunnan to Dali then Lijiang. The bus that we ride on needed to stop quite frequently not only to pump up diesel but also to cool off the brakes as going uphill and downhill will certainly lead to some overheating and it is extremely dangerous if the brakes are overheated especially going downhill.

In midway to Dali, all tourist buses needed to stop at a check point for inspection by the authority to ensure that the busses are mechanically fit for a long mountainous journey. I asked the sifu why bother to stop for at least half an hour to one hour just for the sake of inspection as our bus was still new. The sifu said it was mandatory inspection regardless of the age of the bus simply to make sure that no untoward incident occurs as the roads along the journey are winding and narrow on hilly terrain. It was for the safety of the passengers after all.


Back here in Malaysia, too bad that we are not giving that sort of respect to our bus drivers be it tourist buses or normal passenger buses. They don’t have that “sifu” status here and most of them are overworked to earn a meager of salary and if they are too tired due to long distance driving, accident may happen. It is very sad to see that 27 tourists from Thailand were killed as the double-decker tourist bus overturned at Simpang Pulai after coming down from Cameron Highland. These people supposedly here to enjoy a holiday but ended up with a tragedy that could possibly be avoided if the tour company put more emphasis on safety.

Is a double-decker suitable for hilly terrain such as Cameron Highland? Is it stable enough? Too bad that we always wait for a tragedy to strike, then finger-pointing games by all parties including the authorities will start all over again and solution is still far from avail.

Monday, December 13, 2010

When there is a leak....

There is an interesting article by Jemima Khan on the Guardian on why did she back Julian Assange, the controversial spokesperson of WikiLeaks who was arrested by the British authority under the request of their Swedish counterpart for alleged rapes or more precisely, performing sex with woman without putting on condoms. Jemima believes that there is a fundamental injustice to the arrest of Assange and thus presented herself in the court to act as a surety for him under the request of Assange’s lawyer.

WikiLeaks offers a new type of investigative journalism and whether it is good or bad is highly controversial but when there are more and more classified information declassified, some people of higher authorities started to feel the pinch. For instance, when WikiLeaks revealed that Singaporean intelligence officials told their Australian counterparts that the de-facto leader of Pakatan Rakyat had indeed been guilty of the conduct he was accused of and it was a set up job, who do you think will feel the pinch? Will such leaks affect the outcome of the ongoing sodomy II trial?

Hence, it is not difficult to understand as to why the United States is so concerned about the extradition of Assange as perhaps they want to keep him shut before more truths are being revealed and those truths especially pertaining to war crime could potentially be tarnishing their credentials and reputations.

WikiLeaks poses threats only to those with hidden secrets and ulterior motives while for ordinary people who has no “cables”; the only leak we are more concerned of is a leaking roof during a raining day.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A pity kid seeing his mother jumping down from a flat

The 14-storey flats at Jalan Tun Dr. Ismail in Seremban is famous not for any good reason but a popular place for committing suicide. Yesterday, there was another such case, making it into 4 suicide cases in 2010. A mother jumped from the 13th floor in front of her 10-year old son and I wonder how cruel the mother was, leaving behind her son, letting the small boy be haunted by the traumatic scene for the rest of his life.

We have heard that gambling destroy many families and very sad that it always happened on the lower income groups and these people could have borrowed a lot of money from the Along which they could not pay back and thus have to encounter harassments from the loan sharks. Why are there so many illegal loan sharks around? In my small housing estate, you see many banners erecting one after another offering the so-called lucrative and tempting loans, these banners are all put up by the illegal loan sharks and sadly no actions were being taken by the authority as the banners are mushrooming almost everywhere.

The world that we live nowsaday has evolved into a materialistic world as compared to sixties or seventies. Temptations are everywhere and in all sorts of forms. For those ordinary wage earners or self-employs, the only available way to get rich is to win a lottery. Don’t you agree? Even if one day you discover that there is petroleum beneath the house that you stay, it is not going to bring you any good fortune, the petroleum belongs to the government.

Hence, all sorts of gambling, 4-digits, lottery and casinos whether legal or illegal, can easily find thousands and thousands of supporters. Even the investment in share markets also contain with it some elements of gambling, if not, all the share buyers will be making money and laughing all the way to the bank and we would not have heard so much about people losing all their saving through speculation on share markets.

As a 4-digits frequent buyer, I must say that it is the greed of a person that will land him or her in deep trouble rather than gambling per se. When greed is beyond control, it can develop into addiction that can destroy common sense and righteousness. Remember the brutal murder of the millionaire lady in Banting? You can see how a person’s greed can result in 4 innocent people were murdered senselessly.

I’m rather pity on the 10-year old boy that has surely been traumatized by her mother jumping from the 13th Floor of a flat in Seremban, in front of his own eyes. As the mother ended her own life, she also took away a normal life of her own child.